La Chinoise (1967)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 99 minuten
Country:
France
Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
Stars: Anne Wiazemsky, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Juliet Berto
IMDb score:
6,9 (9.178)
Releasedate: 30 August 1967
La Chinoise plot
A group of five French students led by Veronique studies Mao's teachings. However, their methods of pursuing Mao's ideals become increasingly extreme, and they soon come to the conclusion that an assassination is necessary.
Actors and actresses
Véronique
Guillaume
Yvonne
Henri
Kirilov
Omar
Francis
Blandine
Son ami
Self - Assistant Director (uncredited)
Reviews & comments
Donkerwoud
-
- 8924 messages
- 4073 votes
Things just aren't clicking between me and Godard. Visually remarkable, but for me, it is all far too hermetic and far too intellectual. The few successful touches are hidden within an immensely irritating film.
Translated from Dutch · View original
wibro
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- 11590 messages
- 4098 votes
After having seen the fantastic Le Redoutable (2017), a rewatch of La Chinoise was inevitable. After all, Le Redoutable is partly about the making of that film. In my review of that biography of Godard, I wrote, among other things, that this director suffered from a delusion when he made La Chinoise, and that is confirmed once again upon seeing that film. How on earth can one idolize a figure who stood radically opposed to Western culture at the time? Songs about Mao, the Little Red Book, attacks against the bourgeoisie of which Godard and those flipped-out students were, mind you, a part themselves. What was actually wrong with Godard? The ladies and gentlemen looked quite well-dressed. They clearly did not come from the working-class backgrounds that those students supposedly felt they had to stand up for. In my opinion, no generation of students has ever fooled themselves as much as in the late sixties. Is there still something positive to say about what is, for me, the weakest Godard film I have seen? Certainly; this film has all the Godard hallmarks, such as that balcony scene, but it is the political nonsense spouted throughout the entire film that earns this movie the 'severe fail' label from me.
2.0* after revision.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bobbejaantje
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- 2365 messages
- 2119 votes
In this film, Godard keeps his finger on the pulse with his depiction of a group of conspiring Marxist-Leninist students, who, notably, go about their business in the house of their absent bourgeois parents. It is worth noting that this film was made six months before May '68 and, in fact, looks ahead. To fully grasp the film, it helps to be somewhat familiar with the current events of the time, as well as to have some interest in communist ideology(ies), given the amount of palavering about Mao this and Stalin that. Godard's starting point and inspiration is, therefore, the Cultural Revolution of helmsman Mao in 1966, which caused a shockwave among communist pillars. Is it, then, ultimately just a dated (political) film? For me, certainly not entirely. The use of violence to accelerate the revolution—terror, in other words—is a central theme in the film, and several haunting conversations regarding this are held in this film, which is conceived almost as a documentary. Communist terror cells would not become 'burning' topical until the 1970s, so here too, Godard is certainly ahead of his time. And even today, we still have to deal with terror on our globe from people who think they are serving some good cause. It is not difficult to replace the little red book in the film with another book. As befits a Godard film, it is a beautifully shot film, featuring experimental situations—though not exaggerated—and once again thoroughly reflecting on art and reality. A film with a lot of dialogue and little action, but the little action that is there does result in situations where the revolutionary students are stripped bare. To me, this film is certainly not a pro-communist pamphlet; quite the contrary.
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